#USNavy lays keel on future littoral combat ship Omaha

MOBILE, Alabama (NNS) -- Austal USA shipyard held a keel laying ceremony for the sixth Independence variant littoral combat ship, the future USS Omaha (LCS 12), Feb. 18. With Austal USA as the shipbuilder, teamed with General Dynamics as the combat systems provider, the future USS Omaha will be approximately 420 feet in length and have a waterline beam of greater than 100 feet. "Today we celebrate an important milestone in the construction and ultimately life of the future USS Omaha," said Capt. Tom Anderson, LCS program manager. "Once complete, this highly adaptable warship will deploy cutting edge mine countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare, and surface warfare systems around the globe." The keel laying represents the formal beginning in the life of a ship and the ceremony recognizes the first joining together of a ship's components, though modern shipbuilding processes ...